Leavenworth’s 19th Annual Empty Bowls Festival will be held from Jan. 26-29 at the Sleeping Lady Resort. The Empty Bowls FestivalI is a fundraiser for Leavenworth’s local food bank, the Community cupboard.

Individuals will be able to purchase bowls that were thrown by volunteer potters for $15, paint it to their liking, and then volunteers will glaze them. Participants will be reunited with their bowl at the Soup Supper in March. Around 10 community restaurants provide soup for the Soup Supper .

The money raised from this event will go towards the food bank in the Community Cupboard and will be used to sponsor two art grants, local to Leavenworth, that have yet to be decided.

The Community Cupboard is a food bank/thrift store in Leavenworth. They provide over 240 families with food per month and are the only food bank in Washington that is open six days a week.

In previous years the Community Cupboard has raised $10,000 to $15,000 from the Empty Bowls Festival. This is the money that the Community Cupboard uses to purchase food every month.

“We hope that [the Empty Bowls Festival] will bring a greater awareness to our community that we have people who go hungry and that we need to support resolving that hunger issue,” said Kelly Hassinger, Community Outreach Manager at the Community Cupboard. “It’s a great way to bond the community together.”